The chatterbox in me

Tell your Allison to mind her words????? ahahahahlaalhalhalahlaLollolololo….

I simply relayed what you told me on the phone..helloooo??? That’s your words, remember?

My God…if you wanna interprete my email differently. Let it be. What I wrote was just plain innocent, word for word on what you said.

You wanna play games. fine. I don’t know what your prob is. As far as I’m concerned, I am not here long enough to offend you in any ways. We’re not even in the same office. I’m here to work and serve my boss and not to waste my energy and time on you, woman!

Wow, Mew Choo, I’ve seen you in your semis and finals. You’re simply great. You portrayed a confident and undeterred and determined outlook. Beating the Chinese one by one till you emerged as the CHAMP of the China Open. GENG! I’M SO SO SO IMPRESSED! The petite and pretty lady running tirelessly across the court retrieving every shot. And, and, and, oh the Yonex skirt looked so cool on you. You surely make us proud. Last but not least, I came to learn that you were a student of Yu Hua Kajang. My God I didn’t know that till now. You go girl. I’ve made you my heroine for the next few months!

Mind’s been drifting every now and then. Should I realise my desire to go to a new place and learn a new culture? This Au Pair thingie in another country has been on my mind for some time. Though I haven’t got much , or should I say never had any childcare experience, I believe I can make a good playmate. I can take over their parents on entertaining their sporting activities i.e badminton, tennis, swimming…etc. Thus, these children must not be too young … Guess ideal age would be around 8 or older. See them off to school, help out in schoolwork, be their big sis…a piece of cake. Cook for them…Simple ones shouldn’t be a prob.

Now, now should I lunge into such decision now? For the time being, I still think it’s crazy… I just started my working life. Should at least stay put for a year or 2. An aupair in America musn’t be older than 26. That would be perfect. That’s one of the country I wish to stay and discover over a few months…learning the lifestyle and culture is more on my mind during my travel, hence, the idea of being an au pair attracts me. I’ll be able to live and learn in an American family first hand besides sharing our Malaysian culture.

America, Germany, Japan and NZ…I have my eyes on you…… Now , now… how should I go about this from here…..???

Interviewers, you ask me my short and long term life plans? Here they are…not professional plan, i admit. I haven’t been honest with you before this. I really don’t know myself but , it’s out of the question to be uncertain during interviews or saying I might take a few months off for a life experience in a new place.

What’s the use of friendster ? Correct, to pry on ppl, Who? Whoever la… Those you know, those you don’t know, one way links to another. Whoever’s pics catch your attention, so on and so forth. True? Agree? Don’t lie!   

Esp when ppl like me, bored in the office , having all the time during lunch break to surf .. I’ll go check out at friendster a bit. However, don’t misunderstand. I’m not the sort of person who’s crazy doing this. It’s bored me over the time too. Not much updates though if I were to check regularly. Besides, I do not keep myself anonymous.

Btw, whoever out there needs to do reading just like me for work ? Reading the company’s shared folders, reading up on lec notes (disadv of working on the same field i studied) ,  super thick and exaggerated quotations.. (read, digest and extract and put into a comparison table), reading up and digesting details on food systems i.e homo, evap, sterilizers.

Lotsa reading in a day , and that’s non-inclusive of reading the dailies and novel off working hours.

I’m so full. Why? I’ve just stuffed on my effort. 2 loaves of densed bread which took me the whole day to bake. It’s also the reason I went to the local Tesco for yeasts and flour. Surprisingly, no yeast could be found there, no yeasts in a hypermarket? How could it be. Actually it’s not only in Tesco, I couldn’t find it in Billion and Giant as well. Finally, I got it at the grocery.

Hmm..? This bread seemed not a basic bread. I did not realize it required 2 eggs and luckily the grocery was open again this morning, Sunday morning that is.

So, with the piggies still in bed, I started my labour. Getting my hand dirty kneading the sticky dough, stickier then anything I’ve touched. That was a total mess. Imagine having both hands with sticky,slimy dough and getting anything to scrap it off will only mess more.

In the end , I still don’t really know what went wrong. Did I overproof? No. I waited till it doubled it size and punched it down as required. Did I not wait long enough for the second proofing? Maybe. But how if I overproofed and the gluten breaks? But I did follow the timing, and even extended a bit. Did I preheat the oven? Yes. Right temp.? Yes.

Results, hard crust on the outer layer which I desire, but kinda densed inside. Soft? Still ok. Just the dense texture is frustrating. It didn’t sound hollow when it’s cooked. Sounded ‘thub’, ‘thub’. At that moment, I already sensed failure. It’s not the first time, my bread came out densed. Could it be bakers outside used a higher quality flour, the so called hard wheat flour? One which forms strong gluten for optimum proofing? Or could it be due to lousy recipes? Or it’s just the not so pro me? heheh…

Alright, nobody can bake perfect with just a few trials. Practice makes perfect, right? OK, I’m gonna be my own product developer here. Maybe I should try with some adjustments and observe the results. That’s something to look forward to for another baking adventure.

As for now, is anyone out there interested to try my bread? Absolutely FOC. I don’t normally offer. Please don’t miss this great opportunity.

Come on, break me free from feeding on bread for the coming few days, densed bread that is. SOB….

Set off to Tanjung Malim in the wee hours on Saturday morning. If one were to know me well, I would consider it a crazy idea to get to another place 100 km away just for an activity starting at 8am and return. Of course this time it interested me enough to get my ass off bed at 5am on Sat and thank God , I had a companion cum driver.

So, what’s the fuss? KAYAKING!!! Joined UPSI students to kayak at Sg. Marak just at the oppo village of this uni.

Kayaking…Let me make a flashback…Yup, a small lorry took us there (ppl plus kayaks, etc. for 24). This place we entered was nice, but the thrash left here and there was disappointing. Was a sad scene.

“Have you seen guys in skirts?” asked Jaep. “Yea, when they’re in sarongs and yea, in fact I’ve seen Prince Charles in skirt” I thought to myself. Apparently, this water resistant skirt like thingie is used to seal the opening of the kayak.  When one comes out from his kayak, guess what, it’s not just for a soak in the water…….but to p-e-e.

“Kayaking, nothing difficult. You paddle and it’ll move at your will. You stop the current sweep you away. As easy as that;” I thought before I came. We started with a lil’ upward paddle. Immediately after I launched, I was with the current instead. I paddled and paddled, however, my kayak was obviously reversing and reversing, continued kayaking, this time with extra power, but only enough to slow the reverse. As I looked up, the rest of the group were in front of me, 10 m plus away and the gap is slowly widening!  All except my companion aka sis is somewhere nearby battling the current as well. Lucky us, saved by good Samaritans. Cik Jaep (that’s what I heard his students calling him) and group members came to our rescue.

Along the river, I could smell durians. In fact, a few of my kayak mates picked one right beside the back and ate on the kayak. Wahliau…! There were also rambutan and mangoesteen on the ground to be seen around.

Though going down stream was much easier, the kayak tended to go side ways. Many times, I went straight to the riverbank if not to the outgrown branches. Later I noticed that kayaking actually involves some hip power. “

Cuba

enjut,” one advised me when my kayak got stuck within the rocks. Subsequently, I tried it out when maneouvering downstream. It did help a bit aside from some of the round the clock rotation before turning back to my initial direction.

Going downstream with the swift current was super scary. The kayak would appear to fly instead of slide down if one were to make a wrong route down. Paddle left, paddle right left , right, left , right… aik why still go left, go..go right..!!!! Paddle left, left, left. CHECK POINT! *heaving a deep sigh of relief* tired arms.

And good news, I am still feeling the tightening of my arm muscles. Great!

RM 150 for 30 mins. “I’ll make sure I enjoy it.” I took one all by myself and after some simple guidance, I was speeding across the deep blue sea. The water beneath was so dark and I didn’t want to think how far the bottom was from me. “What’s living/ swimming underneath? Could there be any dangerous species swimming around down there preying on me???? Ok, as long as I keep my feet away from the water I should be save. As long as I keep my jet ski accelerating, I should be safe. And I’m pretty sure there’re no sharks around here off KK but at Sipadan.

Accelerating on a jet ski all by myself, I felt like a fish swimming freely underneath. The difference is that I’m far faster. I stood up, and pressed on the accelerator. The wind blew at my face and hair. The waves underneath made the ride bouncy. I was going fast, so fast and a quick swerve got me wet. Thrilling, I tried again and again and again. I tried to ski parallel with the waves to reduce the bounce. The sun was burning into my skin but this time not as disturbing as it has always been to me.

Today was the first day to a brand new phase of life. Day started as early as 5am. Everything’s been smooth and I’m feeling good about it. The pantry’s damn nice! I’m gonna taste that ice cream tomorrow. And I’m gonna make my own coffee and let the aroma linger in the air conditioned office. hahahah…

I feel good …lalalalala… I love my new family and I’m going to love my responsibilities. What a great beginning. Looking forward to the the orientation tomorrow.

Not my video but interesting to check out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4q-hcpgO10

I heard a sms ringtone. OH…that’s familiar. It’s mine! Checked and read in the dark. It’s Sam. He’d awaken and coming over at 3.35am. Before long, the 18 of us were making our way to Kinabalu Park in 2 vans. I slept along the way, not without knocking my head on the window steel.

Arriving early for registration, we snapped a few pics. Mist were around us that morning , 27 June 2007 at 6.30am. I was already trembling with cold. At that point, I started to put on more layers of clothes and wore my winter hat…another trick to lighten my backpack.

A bus took us to the Timpohon gate and  we were briefed by our 3 guides. We had a total of 8.5 km to the summit of Mount Kinabalu but first we’d stay a night at Laban Rata at km 6.

"Any ques before we start?" asked Lawrence, the guide. Silence…

And so the journey began….downhill….?????????? but for only a few steps till the waterfall…still fresh and full of energy, we took a few photos here. Moved on…this time uphill..the trail at the beginning were of earth steps…too big steps to carry on for long…eventually, looked for small alternatives.

The sights and sounds at the beginning was of the typical tropical forests’. Along the way, there were signboards of our distance, a rest area, toilet and a tank of untreated drinking water supply.

Apparently, Mount Kinabalu is never lonely. There’s ppl ascending and also ppl coming down on a daily basis. Besides participants, there’re ppl making a living here…. the porters. This porters may be male/female, young/ old helping to carry participants’ extra luggages with a fee. There are also workers who brought contruction materials up i.e metals lengths and sand. "Wah, berapa kg?" the curious me asked. Answers I got ranged from 25 to 45 kgs and it’s 7 times a week, 6km distance.

Climbers were of different nationalities. We exchanged pleasantries and greetings along the way with "hello, congrats, good luck, ni hao, jia you, etc.." Some descending Taiwanese reminded us to move on fast before it gets slippery when it rains and that the next stop is just around the corner. We moved on….

Tired…my leg muscles started to sore. I stopped every few steps. Ppl passed me by, mostly the stronger westerners, I must admit. Tried alternating my sling backpack from shoulder to shoulder, back to carrying it in front. Refusing to sit, I shaked my legs as I paused, taking in the views around me.

The trail was partial stones and rocks with earth. Proper steps no longer available. The air was getting thin. Mist surrounded us. Trees were of short, crooked types with small leaves. Plants were getting scarce along the way. It gave me a feeling of being in wonderland, normally portrayed in tv when one’s lost in dreams.

Inhale through nose, exhale through mouth… my couz’s tips kept ringing in my ear. I did not want to risk a faint here. From time to time, applied some ointment, took some sweets and energy supply from choc.

Finally at 2 pm after approx 5 hrs or hiking, we finally reached the guesthouse at Laban Rata at km 6. Many has arrived and it was cold. At 8pm, the temperature fell to 9.7 degree celcius outside. The westerners were still in shorts and a layer while I was in 3. Some were seen smoking outside. Inside, food were prepared…..but at a price. Rm 14 for a big plate of rice. "Come on.. they carried the cooking gas up, you know," I was reminded.

At 2.30 am and 9 degrees celcius, the ascent continued. With torchlightw and a rope to cling to, we managed the remaining 2.5km uphill. It was rocky cliffs this time. Every once a while, I looked behind me. The sleepy neighbourhood far underneath still had their lights on while closer behind and below, there were glimmering torchlichts and whispers and sounds of deep breathing. Before me were more torchlights. I could see the end now…I’m coming closer. Those assembly of torchlights marked the summit. Above me, the sky remained dark. There were stars..and the moon.

Here I came…yeap…my feet hurts. My muscles giving way. Every steps seemed a torture. I couldn’t go on anymore. Ppl took over me. I fell on my palms a few times - wrong steps.some water seeped into my socks. I paused, moved..paused moved. The summit I thought it was.. wasn’t the summit afterall, there were longer way to go. I just didn’t see it from those locations just now. I shone my torch to my side..wow…i was standing at the edge of the cliff. One wrong step and I risked falling and rolling down to God knows where… I kept asking myself why I paid for such torture in the first place. And this will be the first and only at the same time pushing myself to let this end perfectly.

My leg was aching immensely. The muscles..calf and hamstring…that I hardly use were crying out in pain. They’re doing hard work gripping and supporting my body weight on the steep rocky ground.

5.45am of 28 June 2007 marked my accomplishment reaching the summit. The sun started to rise from it’s slumber. "Magnificent,marvellous" I heard a voice nearby said.  I sat within rocks and ppl as wind barrier, looking at the sun. "I’m on top. I’ve made it!" my inner voice screamed. My fingers were getting numb. I took out my hotpack and kneaded it but of no use. It turned immediately to solid instead. I took out my remaining choc bar and enjoyed quietly.

I must have looked silly up there. I don’t know. I didn’ t look into any mirrors then but I could imagine I looked silly. Imagine someone with a swimming goggle on, and a winter mask overlapping another winter hat inside.

I estimated I spent at most half an hour at the summit of Mount Kinabalu (4.0952 km height but 8.5km trail). I walked down, slowly, this time,,..digesting the scenery. Now that the sun has risen, the green pastures beneath was clearly visible. Distant but same level was the floating clouds. Nearer, the various shapes of the other peaks.

After breakfast at Laban Rata , we packed our things and started descending the same trail we took just the day before. Descending was not an easy task as percepted. The large steps resulted in large impacts on our knees as we landed on them. I descended just like an old folk… having both feet on the same step before braving another. With such serious sore, descending too seemed like eternity and this time I only said hello and good luck to ascenders.